Six Critical Questions
The microprocessor industry has some important questions to answer this week. As it moves towards higher core counts, not only does the architecture become more complex, but so do the necessary software and management technologies. Hardware manufacturers and software developers face several critical issues:
- Can the threads model really be made to work as core counts get into the tens and beyond?
- Which programming models and memory are going to work?
- How will processor architectures evolve?
- How will the processor arrays be managed?
- What languages are required to program these systems and where are they going to come from?
- How will software innovations track hardware developments?
These are the questions that the industry must answer. These are the questions that, if they can't be addressed in the short term, are going to hold back the development of the ICT industry as a whole.
Interestingly the European Commission is asking these questions, under the Framework 7 programme – and in other areas – and may fund research in this area. What is industry going to do in parallel?